by Geli Cake
"Actually, my father seduced my mother with food."
"Huh? You had parents?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
I closed my mouth at his words. Right… Of course. Everyone had parents when they were alive. Having unintentionally thrown out a "padrip1 ," I reflected on my words and listened attentively to Lena's response.
"He would give her homemade chocolates and things like that on special occasions and talk to her. And then, gradually, he started making things and sharing them with her even on ordinary days…"
So, Lena's mother gained a lot of weight during that time, he said, chuckling as he relayed her complaints. This was the first time I heard a story about Lena's parents, so I felt strangely intrigued.
"I see. You're not the type to be swayed by food."
"She must have been touched by his sincerity in making things for her. She probably wasn't swayed by the food itself."
"Is that so?"
He munched on the warmed bread, then suddenly tilted his head and muttered,
Homemade…
Lena looked back and forth between me and the bread, then asked, shaking the bread slightly,
"Are you seducing me now?"
"...."
I decided not to say anything and just kept my mouth shut.
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
Saving Haylan's life was the right thing to do. Because since then, he's been stuck to me like glue.
"The Young Master… is asleep."
"He must be tired."
Meilin and Yur whispered quietly.
Since more snow had piled up than yesterday, we built a snowman in the morning. Actually, I did all the snow rolling, and Haylan just stuck on the arms and facial features… Naturally, I was the more tired one.
I was helping to prepare the newly delivered ingredients, and Haylan was sound asleep next to me, his head resting on my lap.
"You've gotten very close to the Young Master, guest."
"That's my job."
"Is it really just a job…?"
Yur trailed off, glancing at Haylan and me. Sensing her gaze, I wondered if there was something wrong with how I treated Haylan.
No one was unaware that I was employed here. But sometimes, Haylan, as well as the other servants, made surprised expressions and remarks whenever similar topics came up, as if thinking, "Oh, right."
"Since we have a lot of fruit this time, I should make some jam! I wonder what kind of fruit the Young Master likes best."
Mrs. Meilin hummed as she opened the fruit crate brought from outside. I glanced over the fruits inside the box.
Haylan liked things that were incredibly sweet, to the point of making his tongue tingle. He preferred pastries sprinkled with powdered sugar or coated in sugar over plain baked goods.
On the other hand, there were things he couldn't eat and would leave on his plate.
"He'll eat anything except lemons. He dislikes anything even slightly sour."
"Oh my, is that so? I didn't know the Young Master couldn't eat sour things."
At Meilin's puzzled remark, Yur spoke up in my defense.
"He didn't even touch the pickles at lunch."
"Is that so? I should trust the guest, then."
She declared she would make blueberry jam immediately and went to get a bag of sugar. Soon, a sweet smell filled the air.
Did Haylan smell it, too? His eyelashes fluttered, and when I reached out and stroked his hair, his expression relaxed. Everything about him was small.
Yur, watching me play with his tiny, leaf-like hand, opening and closing it, said,
"Even I, who have served him for ten years, still don't quite understand his tastes. You're amazing."
Amazing, my foot. I had my share of trial and error, too. I shook my head, remembering Haylan's varying reactions in the game depending on the type of food item.
"You have to try feeding him everything to find out. He doesn't even put things he dislikes in his mouth."
"…The fact that you noticed that is amazing in itself. We thought the young master just didn't like eating. But… come to think of it, we never really offered him anything."
Yur said she learned her work from her father. Her father was very respectful to Haylan and had repeatedly told Yur to be cautious around him.
Perhaps because of that, she seemed to have given up on trying to understand Haylan, treating him from the beginning as a difficult master to serve. It was a situation born from preconceived notions.
Their job was to maintain Haylan's surroundings for his comfort and to deliver the prescribed amount of blood to him on the appointed days.
Yur smiled slightly and continued,
"Thanks to you, I've learned a little about the young master. He's actually quite adorable."
I was relieved that Haylan was asleep. If he were awake, he might not get angry, but he would definitely grumble.
"...Everyone is grateful to you, guest."
Haylan was loved. Well, how could anyone not love someone so cute and kind? It was just a lack of communication.
Haylan, awakened by the smell of fruit being preserved in sugar, sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"You're awake?"
When I pressed my lips to Haylan's exposed forehead, he pushed me away with an annoyed expression.
He asked Yur,
"What are they grateful for?"
Yur smiled and held a peeled piece of fruit to Haylan's lips. Haylan instinctively took a bite and immediately grimaced.
"The guest told us what kind of food the young master dislikes."
I popped the piece of fruit Haylan had rejected into my mouth and ate it. Yur chuckled, seeing me take care of his leftovers.
"So he doesn't like sour things. I'll keep that in mind when preparing meals."
"...Yur, you're starting to resemble someone."
Haylan glared at Yur. That "someone" couldn't be me, right? At Mrs. Meilin's words that I could stop helping now, I picked up Haylan.
I handed him a sweet treat to cleanse his palate, and Haylan, finally appeased, leaned against me and asked,
"Do I dislike sour things?"
"Yes, you do."
"...I didn't even know that myself."
How do you know that? He muttered.
Because I used to really like you. Finding Haylan's puzzled expression adorable, I hugged him tighter and said that I knew everything.
"What do you know about me?"
"Everything except what I don't know."
Haylan liked colors with a bluish tint, preferred the scent of grass over flowers, disliked winter even though he wasn't sensitive to cold, and preferred short socks over long ones.
Haylan was a person with clear preferences.
At my detailed explanation, he tilted his head with a bewildered expression.
"I don't really know."
"Your expression says otherwise. Your expression."
"...I don't know."
I popped another sweet snack into Haylan's mouth, who seemed at a loss for words.
Even though I knew a certain amount about this place as a player, it was only fragmented information. I never dreamed that Haylan himself would be completely unaware of his own preferences. It felt strange that I knew more about him than he did himself.
But it didn't matter. Because I knew.
"What do you like?"
Haylan asked.
"Me?"
"What do you like?"
I was momentarily speechless, not having expected him to ask me such a question in return.
Then, I suddenly remembered something I had heard earlier.
"Yur told me that a week-long winter festival started in the village on Friday. Apparently, the stalls are already lined up."
Today was the third day of the festival.
The line was, "It's the Snow Flower Festival. Have you seen the fireworks in the sky?" But there was no specific event, and since it was impossible to see the sky from inside the mansion, that line only served as a time indicator.
"They have fireworks today, too, and they say you can see them clearly even from here. It seems like a grand event."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"The place I lived was warm, so it didn't really feel like a winter festival, but it must be different here, right?"
"...."
"I want to go see the festival together."
At my request, delivered with a chuckle, Haylan's expression remained impassive, but I understood one thing.
"There's a big market and lots of delicious food, too."
"Hmm."
"And fireworks are more fun to watch live than from afar, right?"
"...Crowded places are dangerous…"
So, you want to go too, if it weren't for that?
"I'll try to persuade the head butler."
He had a troubled expression. But seeing as he didn't refuse outright, Haylan seemed to have some expectations.
"So, we can go if he allows it? Then we're really going together?"
"...I said I understand."
He replied curtly. I found his tsundere2 reaction quite cute.
"So, you like festivals?"
I was momentarily puzzled by his sudden question, then nodded.
"I like them."
Festivals are nice. Everyone has happy faces, and there's lots of delicious food. Life needs a bit of enjoyable breaks every now and then.
"If you like it…"
Flip.
[Main Story Progress: 15%]
"…I guess it's fine."
I still felt like I almost, but not quite, understood Haylan.